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7% of 'inactive' voters returned ballots in Boulder County

Hillary Hall supports new law to protect voters labeled as inactive

By Laura Snider Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
11/09/2011 10:24:42 PM MST

Updated:
11/09/2011 10:25:30 PM MST

An October ruling by a district court judge allowed Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Hillary Hall to send 24,139 ballots to "inactive" registered voters who would not otherwise have received one, and of those, 1,633 ballots were returned.

Hall also sent ballots to eligible voters in 2009 who were labeled "inactive" after failing to vote in 2008, but during the 2009 election -- which was also conducted entirely by mail -- a state law was on the books that specifically directed Hall and other clerks to do so. That legal directive expired July 1 of this year.

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler told county clerks that the law's expiration meant clerks should only mail ballots to "active" voters. When Denver Clerk and Recorder Debra Johnson decided in late September to send ballots to inactive voters anyway, Gessler's office sued.

At the time, Gessler, a Republican, said he knew his decision would draw accusations that he was trying to disenfranchise voters, especially minority voters, who were listed as inactive in Democratic-leaning Denver.

"I understand that this has become a heated debate and I'm a little disappointed that I think some have, what I would say, played the race card," Gessler said in September. "The fact of the matter is, we're applying this law equally, whether it's to Colorado Springs, to Denver or any other county in the state of Colorado."

In October, a judge ruled that Johnson could send ballots to "inactive" voters while the trial moves forward. In Boulder County, Hall interpreted the judge's ruling as allowing her and other county clerks also to send ballots to inactive voters.

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Hall said Wednesday that she "absolutely" supported "cleaning up" state laws to make it clear that clerks should send ballots to eligible voters who are labeled "inactive" simply because they failed to vote in the last general election. The ability of those inactive voters -- who differ from a second category of inactive voters who earned that label because they moved -- to show up at a voting center in person and vote has not been questioned.

"Obviously, if people are eligible to get a ballot in person and we know their address, we should send them a ballot," Hall said.

This year's return of ballots from voters labeled as inactive was about 7 percent, up from about 3 percent in 2009.

Hall said she also supports a change to the law that would allow her not to send ballots to people whose names are on the post office's national change-of-address list. It is not legal for the post office to forward ballots -- but Hall is legally bound to send ballots to all active voters, even if their names are on the post office's list. This year, that meant about 11,000 ballots were sent to the post office, where they languished.

"They just sat there," Hall said.

Instead, Hall would like legal permission to send those people a letter -- which can legally be forwarded -- instead of a ballot so that those voters can change their address at the Clerk and Recorder's Office before the election and then receive a ballot at their new address.

"I think (the laws) need some additional changes as we move more and more to people voting by mail," she said.

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